Drive Electric Northern Colorado, CSU Parking and Transportation Services, and local dealerships are offering an innovative chance for CSU staff and faculty to get behind the wheel of plug-in electric vehicles to learn about the cost savings, environmental benefits, and national security benefits of driving electric. the event, from 11 a.m.-2p.m., Wednesday, January 14, will be on University Avenue in front of the Plant Sciences building.
Drive Electric Northern Colorado, a partnership of Colorado State University and the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, is a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at achieving widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the Northern Colorado region.
The chance to test drive an electric vehicle through the partnership's Ride-and-Drive program is free to all CSU faculty and staff. The Ride-and-Drive event combines the opportunity for CSU faculty and staff to learn about how plug in electric vehicles s are cleaner, greener, cheaper, and fun to drive while putting them behind the wheel of today’s latest vehicle technology.
“CSU strongly supports our campus community driving electric vehicles and we’ve installed 10 charging points on campus to date. As one of the country’s leading green universities, we care about doing our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support innovative technology in electriv vehicles,” said Amy Parsons, vice president for Operations, after test driving a Chevy Volt.
Up to eight electric vehicle models will be available to test drive, and may include the Chevy Volt, Nissan LEAF, BMW i3, Mitsubishi iMiEV, Ford Fusion Energi, Ford C-Max Electric, and the Tesla Model S.
At this event, current electric vehilcle owners will ride with each driver to explain the vehicle and about their experience owning an electric vehicle. Drive Electric staff will be present at the event to help attendees learn about federal and state tax credits (up to $13,500) available for purchasing or leasing an electric vehile, and how using electricity instead of gasoline can save consumers thousands of dollars in yearly operating costs.
CSU now has 10 charging stations throughout campus where, as a faculty or staff member, you can charge daily for free.

Fargreen, a startup founded as part of the College of Business's Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise MBA program, took home €200,000 (more than $250,000 USD) in the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge 2014 on Sept. 11.